For an electromagnetic switch, such as an electromagnetic relay or an electromagnetic contactor, which carries out switching of a current path, various kinds of contact mechanism have heretofore been proposed wherein an arc generated at an open contact time when a movable contact is separated from fixed contacts is extinguished in order to switch the contact mechanism from a closed state, in which a current flows by contacting the fixed contacts and movable contact each other, to an open state by interrupting the current.
For example, an electromagnetic switch including a pair of fixed contacts, each having a fixed contact point, which are spaced with a predetermined distance from each other, a movable contact, having movable contact points at the left and right ends thereof, which is disposed so as to be able to come into and out of contact with the pair of fixed contacts, and an electromagnet device, which drives the movable contact, is proposed, as described in PTL 1.
The electromagnet device of the electromagnetic switch includes a U-section magnetic yoke having an upper opening, an upper magnetic yoke covering the upper opening of the magnetic yoke, a movable core which is moved up and down by an exciting coil, and a linking shaft which links the movable core and the movable contact through a through hole formed in the upper magnetic yoke.